YOU may think you are hard done by if you are charged £5 for paying your BT bills by cash or cheque; but have you ever looked at the electricity and gas companies?
Unlike your credit card or direct debit where you can opt to pay the full amount with no charges, the power companies only operate a scheme where you agree they can take direct from your bank amount a regular sum on what they guestimate you will use.
I recently changed from Powergen to another supplier. Imagine my surprise when they sent me a refund of £483. The surplus apparently built up by them taking too much each month.
It always seems to be their side when they estimate how much you will use, and I wonder how much interest free cash they enjoy from millions of customers, and the reason they do not operate a conventional direct debit scheme to take the exact amount when the bill is due for payment.
PHILIP PEARCE-SMITH, Holbury.
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